Update Mac’s Software: First, you must be sure that MacOS is the latest. The latest OS and other security patches are essential to keep your Mac running well, and fortunately, Apple is good about optimizing new releases for better performance. Remember, this process renews MacOS, making sure that they make use of the optimization.
You can imagine with a blog like this one that as an author I want a way to write new posts that is both easy and fast.
Macintoshhowto.com is run by a piece of software called WordPress. WordPress is a little bit clunky and so there have been several attempts to write software that will simplify the blogging process and automatically upload your post to WordPress.  Over the past few weeks I have  trialled various pieces of blog writing software and here’s what I found.
Blogo 2.3.1: FAIL
Based on various reviews the first software I tried was Blogo. Looks nice but too many problems. I used it for about 10 minutes and here’s what I didn’t like:
When you drag in an image into blogo you can’t see the image in the article, you just see a logo showing there’s an image there.The preview didn’t work, it had lots of mistakes.Blogo crashed losing my first post before I even posted it! FAIL.
Mars Edit 3.7.1
The next cab of the rank was Mars Edit. Worked OK but I spent too much time working out how to edit things. Not easy or intuitive. I gave up after 10 minutes. It doesn’t have the easy-to-use Apple feel.
Desk: No Trial Version
Desk had some great reviews and a fantastic website. Sadly there’s no demo version, and I’m not game to spend $29 on an app given the other apps trialled so far were so were so bad. If I get desperate… I’ll come back and give it a try!
Ecto: FAIL
A little lower in the reviews, and their website looks a mess, Â but now I turned to Ecto. Couldn’t set it up, had a problem with ‘Access Points.’ When I did finally set it up I couldn’t even work out how to edit a post. FAIL
MacJournal 6.5.1: FAIL
Macjournal has  lovely website, I’m not sure why I didn’t try this earlier. But after using it I can now see why it has bad reviews. I couldn’t get past ‘incorrect Username or password’ problem. Gave up after 20 min of trying and many google searches revealing others had similar problems. When I finished I couldn’t even quit the app! Massive Fail
Desk: $29Â FAIL
So I became desperate and decided to give ‘Desk’ a go. $29 from the App store. Surely if it’s on the Apple App stoire it should work. WRONG!  It’s better than the other offerings but not reliable enough to use. There’s goes $29.
Pros:
- Very nice looking
- WYSIWYG – Give’s you a good idea of what the final blog post will look like (when it works).
- Reasonably easy to set up.
Cons:
- Not stable enough to trust – I felt the need to check my blog to make sure it looks like it’s meant to after each post.
- Updating an existing post led to formatting problems especially with headings.
- ‘Read more’ tag didn’t work consistently
- Very hard (impossible) to place a photo where you want it.
- Doesn’t re-cycle images so after a few goes at publishing this article it left me with lots of identical images (9 to be precise) Â in my WordPress media folder.
After reading the blog at ‘Desk’ especially the bug reports ‘http://talk.desk.pm/c/bugs/general-bugs’ it seems that desk has some problems that are being worked on.
Conclusions
Overall I’m not recommending any of these blog publishing apps, even the free ones. For the moment it seems it’s best for bloggers to stick with publishing directly to WordPress.
Great apps for your Mac. Right there on your Mac.
The Mac App Store makes it easy to find and download Mac apps as well as widgets and extensions — like editing extensions for the new Photos app. You can browse Mac apps by category, such as games, productivity, music and more. Or do a quick search for something specific. Read descriptions and customer reviews. Flip through screenshots. When you find an app you like, click to buy it. The Mac App Store has apps for just about everything and everyone. Here are a few of our favourites.
Pages
Create beautiful documents, letters, flyers, invitations and more.
View in Mac App Store
View in Mac App Store
Numbers
Make eye-catching spreadsheets and charts in just a few clicks.
View in Mac App Store
View in Mac App Store
Keynote
Put together a presentation with captivating graphics and transitions.
View in Mac App Store
View in Mac App Store
iBooks Author
Create stunning Multi-Touch books for iPad and Mac.
View in Mac App Store
View in Mac App Store
Final Cut Pro X
Bring your film to life using revolutionary video editing software.
View in Mac App Store
View in Mac App Store
Logic Pro X
Turn your Mac into a complete professional recording studio.
View in Mac App Store
View in Mac App Store
Wunderlist
Manage and share your to‑do lists across all your devices. View in Mac App Store
Evernote
Take notes, save web pages, create lists, attach images and PDFs, and more. View in Mac App Store
Cobook Contacts
Find, organise and keep your contacts up to date in even easier ways. View in Mac App Store
Things
Keep track of to-dos, deadlines and projects with this task manager app. View in Mac App Store
Notability
Annotate documents, record lectures and take notes with this all-in-one app. View in Mac App Store
Autodesk SketchBook
Take your ideas further with a complete set of digital drawing tools.View in Mac App Store
Day One
Keep a journal that sends reminders and looks great in day or month view. View in Mac App Store
Pocket
See something you like? Save interesting articles, videos and web pages for later. View in Mac App Store
The Photo Cookbook
Follow over 240 easy‑to‑prepare recipes picture by picture. View in Mac App Store
Kuvva Wallpapers
Choose specially curated wallpapers from a new artist each week. View in Mac App Store
Tonality
Create inspiring black-and-white images on your Mac.View in Mac App Store
swackett
Get visual weather reports that turn complex data into fun infographics. View in Mac App Store
Sky Gamblers Cold War
Rule the action-packed skies in over a dozen different aeroplanes. View in Mac App Store
Sparkle 2
This easy-to-play but enthralling game makes the most of the Retina display. View in Mac App Store
Mac Os X Versions
Bike Baron
Beat hundreds of challenges as you master over 100 different bike tracks. View in Mac App Store
Civilization V: Campaign Edition
Build and defend the most powerful empire the world has ever known. View in Mac App Store
Galaxy On Fire 2™ Full HD
Battle your way through a 3D war-torn galaxy against an alien armada. View in Mac App Store
SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition
Build a city from the ground up and manage your metropolis in every way. View in Mac App Store
Money
Best Mac Os Apps
Set a budget, schedule payments and track investments — all in one app. View in Mac App Store
MoneyWiz – Personal Finance
View all your accounts, transactions, budgets and bills in one secure place. View in Mac App Store
iBank
Manage your money with this fully featured, intuitive personal finance app. View in Mac App Store
Next - Track your expenses and finances
See your expenses by year, month or day, and take control of your finances. View in Mac App Store
Investoscope
Monitor your portfolio of stocks, bonds, mutual funds and more. View in Mac App Store
Mac Os X Download
StockTouch
Keep track of the market in a whole new way. View in Mac App Store
djay
Mix songs from your iTunes library and spin live on a digital turntable. View in Mac App Store
Sound Studio
Record, edit and produce digital audio. Create your own mixes and add effects. View in Mac App Store
Shazam
Like what you hear? Identify a song at a moment’s notice. Then share it or buy it. View in Mac App Store
Tabular
Read and write tablature notation for guitar, bass, drums and more. View in Mac App Store
AmpKit
Turn your Mac into a powerful guitar amp and effects studio. View in Mac App Store
Sound Forge 2
Record, edit, process and render high-resolution audio files. View in Mac App Store
Install any app with ease.
The Mac App Store revolutionises the way apps are installed on a computer — it happens in one step. Enter the same iTunes password you use to buy apps and music on your iPhone, iPad, Mac or iPod touch. Within seconds, your new app flies to Launchpad, ready to go. So you can spend more time enjoying new apps and less time installing them.
Keep your apps up to date.
Since developers are constantly improving their apps, the Mac App Store keeps track of your apps and tells you when an update is available — including OS X software updates. Update one app at a time or all of them at once, for free. You can even have your apps and OS X update automatically, so you’ll always have the latest version of every app you own.
The app you need. When you need it.
Can’t open a file you’ve downloaded or received in an email? OS X can search the Mac App Store to find the app that can open the file. Buy what you need instantly and get back to business.
Buy, download and even re-download.
You can install apps on every Mac authorised for your personal use, and even download them again. This is especially convenient when you buy a new Mac and want to load it with apps you already own.